Zhang Hao: Grasping the General Requirements of Learning and Education for Establishing and Practicing a Correct Outlook on Political Performance
Recently, the General Office of the CPC Central Committee issued the Notice on Conducting Learning and Education for Establishing and Practicing a Correct View of Performance Achievements Throughout the Party. The Notice explicitly puts forward the general requirements of "founding the Party for the public, benefiting the people, scientific decision-making, and taking concrete actions with real results" to guide this learning and education across the entire Party. This "sixteen-character formula," rich in connotation, rigorous in logic, and clear in orientation, profoundly answers the fundamental questions of "for whom should performance achievements be established, what kind of performance achievements should be established, and by what means should performance achievements be established" on the New Journey. It points out the direction and provides a fundamental follow-up for the in-depth implementation of learning and education for establishing and practicing a correct view of performance achievements.
Founding the Party for the public defines the fundamental stance and starting point for creating performance achievements, and answers for whom these achievements are established.
As a Marxist party whose purpose is to serve the people wholeheartedly, the Communist Party of China has no special interests of its own other than the interests of the people. This dictates that when Party members and cadres create performance achievements, it must be for the public (for the collective [1]) rather than for private gain. Throughout the historical processes of revolution, construction, and reform, the Party has always adhered to founding the Party for the public and exercising power for the people, encouraging generation after generation of Communists to offer selfless dedication and engage in successive struggles to create performance achievements centered on the original aspiration and founding mission of "seeking happiness for the Chinese people and rejuvenation for the Chinese nation."
The key to adhering to founding the Party for the public lies in correctly handling the relationship between "public" (gong) and "private" (si). These two characters, gong and si, test one's work style, manifest one's Party spirit (dangxing), and reflect one's moral integrity. Communists should always use gong and si as a yardstick to rectify their hearts, words, and deeds, and effectively achieve a clear distinction between the public and private, prioritizing the public over the private, forgetting the private for the sake of the public, and being selfless and devoted to the public [2]. In reality, some cadres treat performance achievements as stepping stones for personal promotion, showing great enthusiasm for "image projects" [3] and "potted landscape projects" [4]. On the surface, these projects appear bustling and lively, but they offer not the slightest benefit to the masses. The root cause is a misplacement of the "public" and "private." Once a person in power is swayed by private interests, their judgment is often hindered and their vision narrowed, making it difficult to achieve fairness and justice. Even worse, some fail to guard against small temptations; their private desires swell, leading them to damage the public interest for private gain [5], which eventually yields bitter fruit. Therefore, only by adhering to the fundamental stance of founding the Party for the public and effectively mapping performance achievements onto the coordinates of serving the overall situation and the people can we ensure the direction does not deviate and the focus does not shift.
Benefiting the people reveals the value purpose of a correct view of performance achievements, requiring that such achievements be written into the hearts of the people.
The question of for whom one creates performance achievements is the primary issue in the view of performance. It influences the fundamental direction and value destination of one's endeavors. From Comrade Mao Zedong’s proposal to "serve the people wholeheartedly" to General Secretary Xi Jinping’s proposal to "let the common people live a better life," it is fully proven that benefiting the people is the unchanging pursuit of performance for our Party. In fact, whether one takes seeking interests for the people as the fundamental objective of creating performance achievements tests the consciousness of purpose, the realm of thought, and the sentiment of the governing party. Party members and cadres must stand firmly on the people's standpoint, consciously becoming selfless contributors dedicated to benefiting the people. They must persist in "doing things" rather than "putting on a show" [6], and "creating benefits" rather than "creating momentum" [7], truly bringing work that benefits the people’s livelihoods, warms their hearts, and aligns with their will into the very hearts of the masses.
To persist in benefiting the people, one must firmly establish a people-centered view of performance achievements. Only in this way can we ensure the correct direction of reform and development and continuously respond to the people's new expectations for a better life. We must always uphold the value pursuit of "everything for the people" and clarify the concept of "for whom achievements are created" in our thinking. We must respect the people's principal position and their pioneering spirit, firmly grasping the implementation path of "everything relying on the people," and substantiating "how to create achievements" in our actions. We must scientifically apply the evaluation standard of "whether the people are satisfied" to calibrate "how to measure achievements" in terms of actual effects. Benefiting the people is not an abstract slogan; it is manifested in solving specific problems one by one and handling matters of livelihood for the people effectively.
Scientific decision-making emphasizes acting according to objective laws and avoiding "head-patting" [8], providing the methodological path for establishing and practicing a correct view of performance achievements.
Looking at cases investigated and handled in recent years, some leading cadres have exercised power capriciously and made decisions arbitrarily. They could not tolerate different voices regarding major decisions, forcing their will through and pushing ahead aggressively. This might seemingly save the "cost" of demonstration and feasibility studies, but the actual waste caused is staggering. Such blind decision-making causes huge losses to the state and the people and leaves a heavy burden on local development. Only scientific decision-making can promote the smooth development of the cause of the Party and the state. Currently, as the "15th Five-Year Plan" enters its opening year [9], to turn the grand blueprint drawn by the fourth plenary session of the 20th CPC Central Committee into a beautiful reality, we must maintain a sense of awe, treat scientific decision-making as an iron rule for career development, and continuously improve the level of scientific decision-making.
To adhere to scientific decision-making, we must respect objective laws and proceed from reality in all matters. Laws are objective rules; respecting them leads to twice the result with half the effort, while violating them leads to half the result with twice the effort. As the saying goes, "prepare the meal according to the vegetables; cut the cloth according to the body" [10]. To act according to laws, the key is to seek truth from facts and proceed from reality, ensuring that every decision and every measure stands the test of reality, conforms to objective facts, and embodies a scientific spirit. In reality, many impulses for performance accomplishments are linked to violating laws, and all have paid a heavy price. The lessons of reality show that development that violates laws is often "tinkering-style" development. Therefore, only by calibrating the pursuit of performance achievements onto the track of "objective laws," without violating common sense or acting blindly and recklessly, can all undertakings advance steadily and reach far.
Adhering to scientific decision-making also requires fully developing democracy and pooling wisdom from all sides. Democratization of decision-making is an important prerequisite for ensuring scientific decision-making and a powerful tool for preventing decision-making errors. We must resolutely implement the system of democratic centralism, strictly abide by the rules of procedure for Party committees, prevent "one-man rule" [11], solicit opinions from all sides, and be as receptive to advice as a flowing stream. In the decision-making process, we should listen to opinions from various quarters, consciously consult the people about their needs and solicit their suggestions, so that decisions conform to the actual situation and "head-patting" decisions or "chest-patting" [12] reckless actions are avoided. Law-based decision-making is an inevitable requirement for economic and social development. We must ensure that decisions do not deviate from the legal framework and bottom line to reduce the risk and cost of decision-making, improve its quality, and make it stand its ground. Investigation and research are the foundation of planning and the way to success. We must treat investigation and research as a basic skill and a prerequisite for decision-making, going deep into the grassroots, the masses, and reality to truly understand the situation, identify problems accurately, and propose solid countermeasures.
Taking concrete actions with real results is the practical requirement for establishing and practicing a correct view of performance achievements.
The greatest truths are concise, and practical action is paramount [13]. Taking concrete actions with real results is the practical requirement and behavioral foothold for establishing and practicing a correct view of performance achievements. it indicates that all results are produced through work; only real work produces real results, and high-quality results. As a fine work style consistently upheld by our Party, practical action is the most plain methodology and the only path to achieving a career. The cause of socialism is a process of accumulating small victories into a great victory; the key lies in action and depends on practical work. The broad ranks of Party members and cadres should put their minds toward doing practical things and invest their energy into implementation. They should carry forward the spirit of practical action—"not indulging in illusions and not chasing empty fame" [14]—striving for practical work, practical measures, and practical effects.
Empty talk harms the country, while concrete action prospers the nation. From Jiao Yulu, who "stayed close to the people, loved the people, and struggled hard," to Gu Wenchang, who "took concrete actions and persisted over the long term," to Liao Junbo, who "threw himself into work and labored hard," these figures benefited their locales during their terms of office, setting benchmarks for the entire Party in creating performance through practical work. Conversely, some cadres pursue fake performance, "on-paper" results, and verbal implementation. This not only fails to promote the development of the cause but also wastes public resources and fails the expectations of the people. Facing new situations and tasks, Party members and cadres must resolve the problems of formalism and bureaucratism from their ideological and interest-based roots, grasp the requirements of taking concrete actions with real results from the perspective of "stressing politics" (jiang zhengzhi), and create achievements that can stand the test of history, practice, and the people through solid actions and dedication.
Founding the Party for the public is the fundamental stance, ensuring that performance does not deviate from the principles of Party spirit. Benefiting the people is the value purpose, ensuring all work serves the interests of the people. Scientific decision-making is the methodological path, ensuring that governing behavior is scientific and feasible. Taking concrete actions with real results is the practical requirement, ensuring that performance achievements take root. These four elements support each other and work in synergy, unified within the great practice of Communists creating performance achievements in the New Era. The broad ranks of Party members and cadres must profoundly understand, accurately grasp, and comprehensively implement these general requirements, integrating them throughout the entire process of learning and education for establishing and practicing a correct view of performance achievements, while advancing learning, inspection, and rectification in an integrated manner to ensure the learning and education achieve tangible results.